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Macro lens v snorkel lens

I have a tabletop shoot coming up next week. There is one complicated shot and i am trying to figure out the best approach.Probably the best and correct way would be to use motion control, but we can't afford that.So here is the shot and my ideas:

2 products - #1 Burger with fillings, patty etc #2 Sub sandwich with fillingsThe shot will be similar - ECU track across the ingredients in the sandwich & ECU boom up or down on the ingredients in the burger - in both instances the camera would continue its move but change direction and and then pull out at a 90 degree or 45 degree wide enough to reveal a full shot of each product.

I am planning to light up to a T11 or T16 to give me the depth of field to keep focus. Would this shot be done better using a macro lens or a snorkel lens like a t-rex?I am trying to avoid camera shake and reduce the human element of lining up 3 different camera movements as best as possible.Any help or input would be appreciated as always.

If you use an Optex Probe, your initial Pan across the ingredients would feel more like a dolly, and then you can do your secondary move. Or Incorporate a slider on a dolly or jib arm.

I also like the Straight Shoot’r for tabletop work, but you can’t do a hard stop without bumping the shot, so I usually have to feather out the tail of the shot and the director usually has to understand how that piece of equipment works.

If you use an Optex Probe, your initial Pan across the ingredients would feel more like a dolly, and then you can do your secondary move. Or Incorporate a slider on a dolly or jib arm.

I also like the Straight Shoot’r for tabletop work, but you can’t do a hard stop without bumping the shot, so I usually have to feather out the tail of the shot and the director usually has to understand how that piece of equipment works.

If you use an Optex Probe, your initial Pan across the ingredients would feel more like a dolly, and then you can do your secondary move. Or Incorporate a slider on a dolly or jib arm.

I also like the Straight Shoot’r for tabletop work, but you can’t do a hard stop without bumping the shot, so I usually have to feather out the tail of the shot and the director usually has to understand how that piece of equipment works.

If you use an Optex Probe, your initial Pan across the ingredients would feel more like a dolly, and then you can do your secondary move. Or Incorporate a slider on a dolly or jib arm.

I also like the Straight Shoot’r for tabletop work, but you can’t do a hard stop without bumping the shot, so I usually have to feather out the tail of the shot and the director usually has to understand how that piece of equipment works.

I did think about the skater scope - it’s great for moves around an axis point but going in two different directions is not so easy in my experiences as you have to change the dial and that would take too much time

for the product I was shooting wide & macro. I was doing vertical moves of about 12-15”, rotations and horizontal moves. if it was food on a table, probably go scope if you want to get into the foodscape. if you don’t have to put the lens really into things, macro should do fine if you don’t have to get that close to things.

If you use an Optex Probe, your initial Pan across the ingredients would feel more like a dolly, and then you can do your secondary move. Or Incorporate a slider on a dolly or jib arm.

I also like the Straight Shoot’r for tabletop work, but you can’t do a hard stop without bumping the shot, so I usually have to feather out the tail of the shot and the director usually has to understand how that piece of equipment works.

Have you looked at the C-Pan Arm? Great way to get smooth side to side, inward/outward curved movement, and in-out within a small range of motion which might be perfect for tabletop. Combined with that weird looking new Laowa probe macro lens, I imagine you'd get a very easy setup that would look amazing. No option to motorise the slide for exact repeats on this setup though.

for the product I was shooting wide & macro. I was doing vertical moves of about 12-15”, rotations and horizontal moves. if it was food on a table, probably go scope if you want to get into the foodscape. if you don’t have to put the lens really into things, macro should do fine if you don’t have to get that close to things.

If you use an Optex Probe, your initial Pan across the ingredients would feel more like a dolly, and then you can do your secondary move. Or Incorporate a slider on a dolly or jib arm.

I also like the Straight Shoot’r for tabletop work, but you can’t do a hard stop without bumping the shot, so I usually have to feather out the tail of the shot and the director usually has to understand how that piece of equipment works.

If you use an Optex Probe, your initial Pan across the ingredients would feel more like a dolly, and then you can do your secondary move. Or Incorporate a slider on a dolly or jib arm.

I also like the Straight Shoot’r for tabletop work, but you can’t do a hard stop without bumping the shot, so I usually have to feather out the tail of the shot and the director usually has to understand how that piece of equipment works.

The director's understanding is critical to the shot working in the end!

*********

Which is why perhaps most table top shooters are Director/Dp’s …. :-)

As you can perhaps see, a lot of high end table top shots are now always done with motion control. It’s just to iffy and frustrating to try to do complicated tight moves “by hand" … when the real star is the food/product. We never go past 10 hours.

We typically have one each AC, grip, gaffer, prop master but 7 folks in the Food Styling/prep department!

Since we are “always waiting for food” we typically have three or four sets going/being lit/set-up, etc. Four and more cameras. (typically all in-house)

No photos of the custom 9 axis motion control rig … which even controls the table top surface. Or the miniature one that is typically underslung and mounted on a slider.

For what Matthew is describing I would go for Optex Probe lens, it just sounds like shadows could be tricky with a macro on that shot. I typically prefer to not go underslung for macro work as f.ex. a straight shooter gets in my lights, particularly if I use a macro lens. Not so much with the Optex since it's so long.So I often ask for a pedestal (Chapman Cobra gets in any doorway, but others are good too) and a 3 or 4ft slider on top, with stops so I don't tip it over if I have to do both boom and slide at the same time. Could also use something smaller like the Kuka robot arm and some smaller limited probes (can't remember their name right now) as you don't need that long of a focus throw. Here's a link with the Kuka robot in it. That shoot was DP'ed by Carlos Montaner. https://vimeo.com/292411954-- Aasulv 'Wolf' Austad, FNFDP, Altadena, Californiahttp://wolfaustad.com

The director's understanding is critical to the shot working in the end!

*********

Which is why perhaps most table top shooters are Director/Dp’s …. :-)

As you can perhaps see, a lot of high end table top shots are now always done with motion control. It’s just to iffy and frustrating to try to do complicated tight moves “by hand" … when the real star is the food/product. We never go past 10 hours.

We typically have one each AC, grip, gaffer, prop master but 7 folks in the Food Styling/prep department!

Since we are “always waiting for food” we typically have three or four sets going/being lit/set-up, etc. Four and more cameras. (typically all in-house)

No photos of the custom 9 axis motion control rig … which even controls the table top surface. Or the miniature one that is typically underslung and mounted on a slider.

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